June 25, 2005
I was so busy last week that I actually passed up James' offer to buy me a ticket to see Howl's Moving Castle with him and Amy. You have no idea how guilty I felt after that.
It was thus a matter of recompense for me tonight that Yen and I made a long-awaited (by us) return to our habit of weekend triple features.
The capper to the evening, of course, was a midnight show of George Romero's long-awaited (by just about everyone) Land Of The Dead. It was completely enjoyable, refreshingly blue and, while it wasn't as intense as one might like (the remake of Dawn Of The Dead was definitely scarier, if nowhere near as interesting), it wasn't lacking in gore. I wish it were longer and more provacative, but overall I'm not complaining - I'm just happy a studio was smart enough to give Romero the money to make this movie. It's a fine addition to his zombie canon.
Prior to that, we watched Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin. I'll be reviewing it soon (and also interviewing Araki and maybe some of the cast), but for now I'll just say that it's just about great, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance is breathtaking, and the film is notable for being the second-best-movie-to-achieve-emotional-closure-via-a-Sigur-Ros-song ever. I haven't seen any of Araki's previous films, and while I know they're completely different than this, I feel compelled to check them out now.
The evening was kicked off with Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs on a DVD imported from Spain. I've been waiting for this one for over a year now, and I'll be writing about it at greater length soon. Suffice to say, if you're a Winterbottom fan, it is of course a must-see. For everyone else: I suppose if I were to give it a star rating, I'd give it two out of four - but it's the kind of two star movie that's still worthwhile in it's own way. Just like (as I told Yen afterwards) Deadroom!
I'm back from Austin now, obviously. Upon waking this morning, I found myself somewhat loathe to look at a computer, and so I sat in another room with my iPod and practiced the fine art of putting pen to paper for a few good hours.
Posted by David Lowery at June 25, 2005 03:17 AM